European Update

A message from Paul Anthony Taylor
Honorary Member of the UK National Association of Health Stores
London UK

As I know you are aware, the EU Food Supplement Directive has a much wider implication for the future availability of supplements than its' impact on EU consumers alone might initially suggest, for if interpreted in a restrictive manner it will strongly influence the deliberations of the UN Codex Alimentarius committee, who already support tight restrictions on the sale of supplements. Now that the EU Food Supplement Directive has been passed the EU effectively controls the Codex committee votes of the 15 EU member states, as these 15 countries will be unable to vote against Codex proposals that are already law in their own countries.

The EU will also control the votes of the 12 EU candidate countries who are presently waiting to join, because they won't want to vote against a system that is part of their accession package. Many more votes in the form of former colonies of member states in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean will also effectively be controlled by the EU, as many of these countries enjoy trade preferences granted to their products in the EU. Further votes in the Maghreb and along the Mediterranean will also be controlled by the EU, due to the new EU-Mediterranean free trade zone set to be established in 2010. Under Rule 6, Codex votes can be taken on guidelines based on a majority of those present at a meeting, making it a strong possibility that the EU could soon win the vote at Codex and force a variation on the directive onto the entire Codex membership.

The net result of all this is that the USA would then come under strong international pressure to implement the Codex recommendations because of its' having signed up to the NAFTA and GATT international trade agreements. As you may be aware, countries that have signed on with these agreements are bound to follow the regulations established by Codex, or be penalised by the World Trade Organisation by sanctions and/or fines.

It is therefore essential for both European and US citizens to keep up the pressure for article 5 of the directive (which deals with the setting of dosage limits) to be interpreted in a liberal manner.
For more information see http://ezines.lef.org?p=151068106